Schumacher treated like any other patient

University Hospital of Lausanne
University Hospital of Lausanne

Michael Schumacher is receiving neurological treatment and rehabilitation in the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) like any other patient, his doctor Richard Frackowiak said on Tuesday.

Treating the record holding Formula One champion from Germany was “business as usual,” Frackowiak, the chief neuroscienist at the Swiss hospital, told Swiss news agency SDA.

The only unusual aspect in treating the high-profile patient are the security arrangements to protect him, Frackowiak said, declining to talk about Schumacher’s health condition.

The 45-year-old former race driver hit his head on a rock and sustained severe brain injuries while skiing in France on December 29. He underwent operations and was placed in an induced coma, from which doctors at Grenoble University Hospital Centre began slowly waking him in late January.

Neurosciences are one of CHUV’s prioritiy areas, and it is the only Swiss hospital which follows an approach of close cooperation between neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists and rehabilitation specialists, Frackowiak added.

Schumacher arrived Monday in Lausanne, which is just a 30-minute drive from his family home in the town of Gland on Lake Geneva. Various broadcast teams and photographers have set up in front of the university clinic. “One photo of Schumi with open eyes, maybe even a smile – I’d wait weeks for that,” one French photographer said. (DPA)